Question

I’ll start off by saying I’ve been using this example here:

http://roshanbh.com.np/2008/01/populate-triple-drop-down-list-change-options-value-from-database-using-ajax-and-php.html

It is formulated for cities/states etc. but I’m just trying to get it to work with my database so I’m pulling employee information out but it still has his city/state text in some places so it may look a little weird.

Also at the moment I’m just trying to get this to work with 2 drop downs, not all 3 for the moment.

Anyways, this is what I have so far, and I’m struggling to get it to work for me. Could anybody point out where I’m going wrong?

Here is what I have in index.php, it’s basically exactly the same I just have the country names swapped out for employee ID’s that are tied to a couple (fake) employee ID’s in my database.

<form method="post" name="form1">
  <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="60%"><tbody>
<tr>
 <td width="150">Country</td>
 <td width="150"><select style="background-color: #ffffa0" name="country" onchange="getState(this.value)">
    <option>Select Country</option><option value="1">mg05</option>
    <option value="2">aa01</option></select>
 </td>
</tr>
<tr>
 <td>State</td>
 <td>
 <p id="statediv">
  <select style="background-color: #ffffa0" name="state">
   <option>Select Country First</option></select>
 </td>
 </tr> 
</tbody></table>
</form>

This is the javascript at the bottom of index.php which I kicks off the ajax request. Note, in the example he is using a mysql database, I am using ODBC to access an Access database, so keep that in mind.

<script type="text/javascript"> 
function getState(countryId)
{
   var strURL="findState.php?country="+countryId;
   var req = getXMLHTTP();
   if (req)
   {
     req.onreadystatechange = function()
     {
      if (req.readyState == 4)
      {
     // only if "OK"
     if (req.status == 200)
         {
        document.getElementById('statediv').innerHTML=req.responseText;
     } else {
       alert("There was a problem while using XMLHTTP:\n" + req.statusText);
     }
       }
     }
   req.open("GET", strURL, true);
   req.send(null);
   }
}

Below is what I have in my findState.php file, I had to adjust several things to account for the fact that he used a mysql database and I am using ODBC to get to an Access database.

<? 
$country=$_POST['country'];

    //make connection to database, bail if no connection
    $connection = odbc_pconnect('db','','');
    if (!$connection) { exit("Connection Failed: " . $connection); }

    //retrieve usernames and passwords
    $query = "SELECT (EName) FROM LoginTable WHERE EmployeeID='$country'";

    $result = odbc_exec($connection, $query);



?>
<select name="state">
 <option>Select State</option>
  <? while($row = odbc_fetch_row($result,'EName')){ ?>
  <option value=<?=$row['EName']?>><?=$row['EName']?></option> //Error on this line
  <? } ?>
</select>

All it’s giving me is that there is an error, Undefined variable: Row on line 22, which I have commented. It displays this error twice, meaning both instances where I reference $row are invalid.

Any help or insights? I’d really appreciate it!!

Answer 1

Add quotes around option value.. check the code below.

    //make connection to database, bail if no connection
    $connection = odbc_pconnect('db','','');
    if (!$connection) { exit("Connection Failed: " . $connection); }

    //retrieve usernames and passwords
    $query = "SELECT (EName) FROM LoginTable WHERE EmployeeID='$country'";

    $result = odbc_exec($connection, $query);



?>
<select name="state">
 <option>Select State</option>
  <? while($row = odbc_fetch_row($result,'EName')){ ?>
  <option value="<?=$row['EName']?>"><?=$row['EName']?></option> // Add quotes around option value..
  <? } ?>
</select>